My war on waste!!!

greenbee

Pollycat wrote: »

But it's not about staff - is it?
It's about customers!
And customers are not taught about the way you should behave in shops.
So for me, these shops are a 'no go' place.

I assumed when prosaver was talking about 'the girl' in the butcher's she meant a member of staff. Who was doing the right thing. TBH I'd assume most hygiene issues in a butcher's shop come from the customers who are coughing and sneezing while waiting... As you say, customers haven't been trained

Fiftys1 - you're right, we don't see what goes on in the packaging, but I'm sure anyone who works or has worked in the food industry can tell you some horror stories. Which are probably (hopefully!) the minority.

Goldiegirl

Lynplatinum wrote: »

When I frist started work in a bank as a cashier they wondered why I was not off ill during the first month - apparently it is an acknowledged fact that money is so dirty and full of germs - tucked into pockets with dirty hankies/handled by folks who dont wash their hands after the loo/ folks who do manual jobs on the street etc - that most new staff are ill. Then I told them that I used to be a teacher :-) QED!!!!

My pet hate was notes paid in by chip shops. The notes were always very greasy, reeked of fat, and when you shook the bundle a load of salt would fall out!

FunBrum

I love this thread!

I've been against waste for years, and fortunately, I don't have much. Probably because I don't buy anything!
I rarely buy food aS most of mine comes from my lovely sister who brings me salad and cooked chickens that her restaurant throw out at the end on the night! Criminal!!
I make chicken casseroles and soups. Anything really that involves the 'left overs that would otherwise end up In the bin!
I couldn't possibly eat everything, so I make meals for other people, so that helps others benefit from waste.

Luckily, my local council are heavily into 're-cycling so any paper,cardboard, plastic and glass goes there. Saying that...I don't have much to 're-cycle as I like to use everything either for crafts or passing onto others.

I make-do-and-mend clothes and up-cycle. Most of my furniture has been donated to me or what others were about to throw out. My brother gave me two leather sofas, 12 months old because they wanted a different colour .

If I do shop, it's at charity shops, but rarely.

Not only do I do this as I hate waste and worry about the impact this 'throw away' culture has on our planet, but it has enabled me to retire 10 years before I should, and I can live a happy, frugal life style

GreyQueen

:T Nice one, FunBrum!

I was listening to some you tube last night and one thing which I took away was Bea Johnson's comment that if you waste, you are literally throwing your money in the bin. Money which, if not wasted, can be used to spend on other things. And retiring early is an excellent one, imo. I'm sure, in the grand scheme of things, the Johnson children would far rather remember cycling the length of California with Mum and Dad, than any amount of designer trainers - lucky lads.

One thing which I've become increasingly aware of as I travel through life is that this business of living is made hideously-complicated by too much Stuff. Almost everything you can imagine, from getting ready in the morning to moving house, is made so much harder than it needs to be by excess.

Keep it simple, waste very little, and you'll be surprised what opportunities open up for you in this life.

I have just been having a tidy-through the food cupboards and re-familiarising myself with what I already have. Am in the countdown to going away for Crimble to family, so nothing new must come in and all the fresh stuff is to be used up.

Heck, I might even clean out the fridge before I go..........:p

katkin

I'm still concerned about the amount of waste we're producing.

We're lucky that our council is very into recycling and we have bins for food waste (we're very low on this), composting, landfill (the same, we're not filling these bins up much at all) paper / cardboard, glass, metal / tins and plastic.

Plastic is our worst waste. The plastic bin is collected weekly which says something. The others are collected every 3 weeks now. Food waste is every monday - and we hardly have any.

As hard as we try I'm finding the plastic hard to reduce.

FunBrum

You are so right GreyQueen!

I downsized from a 4 bed house to a two bed masonette, and with it, got rid of so much 'stuff'! After all, that is what it is....Just stuff!

Living simply and un-uncluttered, free' s you up from stress and leaves you with more time to do things that are really important, and what money can't buy.

GreyQueen

katkin, at least you are trying to reduce your plastics, so many people never give this ubiquitous material a moment's thought.

Perhaps you could list the kinds of plastics your household produces via its consumption, and we could put our heads together and see if we can get ideas for work-arounds for some things. After all, if they don't come into your home, they don't have to go out.

Of course, only if you'd feel comfortable with that level of disclosure, wouldn't want to hassle you or anything.

In the New Year, I will be doing some thing a bit daring for me - getting an alternative to a roll-on deodorant. I use 6 of these in a year, so if I can get a workaround which won't see me soaked in the 'pit department (or a social outcast, lol) it reduces the plastic waste stream a little.

I've tried and failed with one of the ZWH suggested alternatives (baking soda) as it brought me out in a nasty rash. Not as bad as the one I got from using a premium natural deo some years ago (the one with the man's name and the US state name). That required anti-histimanes from the GP to clear up..............! So, you can see why I'm a little chary about venturing into this area of personal grooming. This time, I shall try an alum stone, I expect my local healthfood emporium can provide one.

VJsmum

GreyQueen wrote: »

In the New Year, I will be doing some thing a bit daring for me - getting an alternative to a roll-on deodorant. I use 6 of these in a year, so if I can get a workaround which won't see me soaked in the 'pit department (or a social outcast, lol) it reduces the plastic waste stream a little.

.

I use salt of the earth

http://www.naturisimo.com/products.cfm?id=738&gclid=CNCLhemM68kCFSrpwgodVjkCyw

It isn't cheap but lasts years if you dry it after use. I use it every day - except when I am teaching or flying (higher adrenaline, even normal roll ons fail when I fly). I have also heard good things about coconut oil but haven't tried it. I buy mine from Hoolland and Brrett or any health food store.

I have been thinking about cotton wool - I don't use much, but it does go in the bin. Mostly it is cosmetic use. I have looked at reusable cotton rounds that you can buy, but decided I could make them. So I have purchased a child's brushed cotton cot sheet from a chazzer for 50p and will make some from it. I have also purchased some of those small netted laundry bags to wash them in..

katkin

Thank you GreyQueen for your kind and informative reply

I've just had a rifle through the plastic box and its full of veg / fruit, meat and toiletry wrappers such as deodorant, shampoo bottles and dairy things like - cheese, yoghurt, milk cartons. Bread, crackers packets etc.

I shop at Aldi and other discount stores because we work full time this is cost effective and easy for us.

I can see how I could reduce this waste by buying from local producers and smaller shops using my own basket and bags. But time is an issue and I'm obviously trading off convenience for plastics here...:o

Earlier this year I tried making my own toiletries and cosmetic products but like yourself I found a lot of them didn't suit me. Though I found coconut a great boon and the glass jars are fab for reusing. The no-poo shampoo didn't work for me at all!

I also made cloth wipes and use Ikea cheap terry cotton clothes (they're in the baby dept) for cleansing and cleaning. No cotton wool or face cleaning wipes wipes here. Easy to boil wash with towels and whatnot. They're great.

One thing I did find that works is making my own cloth sanitary towels - they're great :money: I now don't buy any sanitary wear and have no plastics or paper products to dispose of here. I highly recommend doing this. They're also very comfy :cool:

It's a slow process isn't it

GreyQueen wrote: »

katkin, at least you are trying to reduce your plastics, so many people never give this ubiquitous material a moment's thought.

Perhaps you could list the kinds of plastics your household produces via its consumption, and we could put our heads together and see if we can get ideas for work-arounds for some things. After all, if they don't come into your home, they don't have to go out.

Of course, only if you'd feel comfortable with that level of disclosure, wouldn't want to hassle you or anything.

In the New Year, I will be doing some thing a bit daring for me - getting an alternative to a roll-on deodorant. I use 6 of these in a year, so if I can get a workaround which won't see me soaked in the 'pit department (or a social outcast, lol) it reduces the plastic waste stream a little.

I've tried and failed with one of the ZWH suggested alternatives (baking soda) as it brought me out in a nasty rash. Not as bad as the one I got from using a premium natural deo some years ago (the one with the man's name and the US state name). That required anti-histimanes from the GP to clear up..............! So, you can see why I'm a little chary about venturing into this area of personal grooming. This time, I shall try an alum stone, I expect my local healthfood emporium can provide one.

GreyQueen

It's difficult, isn't it? Looking at your list, there's not much there which can be switched out easily without doing a very different kind of shopping, which is tough when you have to shop fast and thriftily, too.

With things like shampoo, one suggestion could be to use the biggest bottles you can find, such as a 1 litre or a 750 ml rather than a 300 ml or 400 ml bottle. When I ate yoghurt, I got so fed up with piddly little tubs all over the place that I'd get one big 500 ml pot of plain and gussy it up with fruit/ nuts/ whatever, having about 2-3 tablespoonfuls per serving.

Other ways of getting this same benefit would be to buy cooking oils in bigger containers such as 2.5 litres rather than 1 litre, and butter in paper rather than margarine in tubs. Butter has been rehabilitated and is now Good for You. Which is great, since I tend to think margarine is frankinstein food.

I guess if you manage to get one thing changed, and get that bedded in, you could then move on to another thing. Pick the lowest-hanging fruit first, naturally.

VJsMum, thanks for that tip. The roll-on I'm using now should see me into the New Year and I will then shop for and experiment with a crystal one. And when I've got through the shampoo, I shall be going for a bar soap version.

I just use ordinary flannels to wash with, and bar soap, and find that they are rough enough to serve as a natural exfoliant.

Overall, my 'beauty regime' (sniggers) is so minimal that it's bordering on non-existant, as I'm a very basic type of woman. Hey, if I'm clean and tidy, that's as good as it gets, people.